A High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has sentenced a young man to death by hanging for the murder of a delivery agent with an online marketing store, Jumia, in March 2017.

The convict, Mr. Sodienye Mbatumukeke was arrested alongside his friends, Mr. Divine Excel Naabe and Miss Joy Eluwa for the murder of the delivery agent, Chukwuma Eleje who was said to have delivered expensive smartphones which they ordered online to the convict’s apartment before he was attacked and killed.

His body was recovered in a septic tank in the apartment on Ada-George Road in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State on March 27, 2017.

The female suspect, Joy Eluwa, said to be the girlfriend of the convict was, however, released while the two male suspects went on trial.

Almost four years into the trial, the presiding Judge, Justice I. P. Chigoezi-Igwe on Monday found Mr. Mbatumukeke guilty on two counts of murder and armed robbery.

The Judge described the murder as gruesome, saying the sentence will serve as a deterrent to others.

Justice I. P. Chigoezi-Igwe however discharged and acquitted the second defendant Divine Excel Naabe of murder and armed robbery.

He said the prosecution team did not present convincing evidence against the second defendant.

Items presented as evidence by the prosecution team in course of the trial included a bed sheet, a mortar and pestle, a marine rope, and a hand glove, all stained with blood.